


Silence

by InkSplatterM



Series: A Silence in the Heart [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Azure Moon - Freeform, Emotional Constipation, Gen, M/M, Masc!Byleth, Mourning, Mute!Byleth, Pre-Slash, School Phase, canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-18 20:04:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20644904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkSplatterM/pseuds/InkSplatterM
Summary: Gilbert sighed. “It’s not that simple.”“No. It is ridiculous. You will not say what happened, yet you let it hang on you like a geas. So either talk to me, or get over it.”Perhaps there was a flash of something in Gilbert’s eyes. Perhaps something changed. It was hard to tell.The door closed in Byleth’s face.-----Byleth And Gilbert have a fight becuase he doesn't know what to do with Gilbert's silences. Good thing Gilbert knows how to deal with his.





	Silence

Byleth pounded hard on the door to Gilbert’s room. Another shopping trip to the markets near the entrance of the Monastery, another time where Gilbert had run off like a dog with its tail between its legs becuase, oh horror of horrors, he managed to have a good time. 

His fist fell a fourth time, aiming for wood, but instead was caught in a calloused hand. Gilbert quickly loosened his grip, not wanting to force Byleth to be silent. His face was a carved from stone as ever. For a moment, Byleth considered forgiving him, being gentle and coddling his feelings. 

No. No. Not this time

“You can not keep doing this,” Byleth said, his hands flashing through the words like a sword through flesh. “There is nothing wrong with not suffering for ten minutes of your life. Whatever you are dealing with, get over it.” 

Gilbert sighed. “It’s not that simple.”

“No. It is ridiculous. You will not say what happened, yet you let it hang on you like a geas. So either talk to me, or get over it.”

Perhaps there was a flash of something in Gilbert’s eyes. Perhaps something changed. It was hard to tell. 

The door closed in Byleth’s face. 

Well. Fine then.

* * *

They circle each other for two weeks. Gilbert hardly spoke to Byleth, or even let himself stay in the same room for longer than was completely necessary. His back kept its proud line, trying not to care when Gilbert would turn away, saying nothing with his voice or his hands. 

It hurt. 

How odd. 

But if Gilbert wanted to torture himself by denying himself, then that was his problem, not Byleth's. Yet... He missed the other man. it felt like he was constantly forgetting something when Gilbert wasn't there, even if he had everything he would need for the day.

Every night Byleth would find himself outside Gilbert's door, hand poised to knock, but turning away instead. He never realized that then Gilbert would open the door and watch him walk away.

* * *

The month had been marked by constant dark clouds. 

“Please, Gilbert,” The young prince said, not begging, but also not ordering, caught between his roles as student and sovereign-to-be. “The professor barely comes out of his room except for when he absolutely needs to. I don’t even think he’s been eating.” 

Byleth was not known for emotional displays. Point of fact, he was not known for any sort of display, emotional or otherwise, though it had been changing, evolving. Shutting himself in his room for hours was new. Not unexpected but new. 

Jeralt was dead. Byleth both witnessed the murder, and held his corpse well into the rainy night. Gilbert had been the only one to pull him away. Alois, Shamir, and Catherine were all met with the same open mouthed noiseless shout, like a wild cat chasing off fellow predators. 

Gilbert knocked softly on the door. It opened under his hand. 

Inside, it was dark. Not even a candle was lit on the desk. Gilbert took out a small box of lucifer sticks from where he knew Byleth kept them in the desk’s drawer. the stick scraped to life when he dragged it against the wall, and let the candle take on the flame. Now with sufficient light. Gilbert closed the door and sat next to Byleth on the bed. 

The other man looked like he had not bathed, his hair sticking together in odd clumps, amusingly reminiscent of Prince Dimitri’s hair. On the floor near the head of the bed were some trays. As Prince Dimitri had assumed, Byleth had not been eating, but hiding the trays so not to make it that obvious. 

“You can’t keep doing this.” Gilbert said, his hands accompanying his voice. “I seem to recall someone once telling me to either talk about it, or get over it.”

Byleth finally looked at him. His throat moved as if swallowing back something. Gilbert waited. How was it that even like this, Byleth was handsome? The dim light thrown off by the single candle etching shadows that contoured the angles of Byleth’s face. 

“My father is dead.” Byleth finally said. His hands moved slowly as he repeated himself. “My father. is dead.” 

“I know.” 

“I do not know what to do.”

“No one does.” 

There was a wet patch on Gilbert’s shoulder. It was followed by weight and a warmth against his chest. Byelth had leaned against him. It took Gilbert a moment to realize what to do, but he eventually got it, putting his arm around Byleth’s back and letting him sob in his odd silence, releasing the emotion that had tangled up inside him, too overwhelming to name or understand alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to my tumblr as a prompt meme response! Cross posting here, finally, though with an added section in the middle to bridge the two sides better.


End file.
